Semi-Portable, Solar-Powered Plant Transforms Trash into Tiles

Trashpresso, a semi-portable, solar-powered plant that transforms trash into tiles, is designed to help those in isolated communities process waste onsite by washing, shredding, melting and molding plastic and fabric waste into tiles suitable for indoor and outdoor flooring.

Trashpresso can travel around to different locations via a 40-foot container, and produce 108 square feet of tiles every 40 minutes.

In developed countries, it's easy for most people to not give garbage disposal much thought: it's hauled to the curb, and a truck carries it away out of sight and out of mind. But isolated communities often lack that infrastructure, meaning it's harder to either truck out the trash or process it on-site. The Trashpresso is designed to lighten the load a little, as a semi-portable, solar-powered plant that turns trash into tiles.

The system was created by Miniwiz, the design company behind other creative recycling initiatives like Polli-Bricks, made from discarded plastic, and Nike's concept store in Shanghai, China, which is built entirely out of materials derived from bottles, cans and DVDs.